Greek Islands - Milos

We caught the ferry from Santorini bright an early on Monday morning. The sailing was very similar to last time except that this time the ferry didn’t have a deck to sit on and the sailing took about half the time. So in truth we didn’t see too much along the way – but was we were two of only a handful of passengers on board we were pretty comfortable.

We arrived in Milos, the Island for Lovers/the Island of Colours (depending on who you ask) at about midday. Given that the campsite was 5km out of town and closed we decided to try our luck at some of the other accommodation around. Talking to other travelers in Santorini, most of the islands are pretty quiet at this time of year and you can usually just turn up at a hotel and get a pretty decent rate. So our first job after getting of the ferry was to find somewhere to stay – and quickly because after nearly three months travelling we are carrying quite a bit of stuff with us.

Our grand welcome

It was simultaneously easy and difficult to find a good place to stay. Meaning it was easy to find somewhere to stay and difficult to find somewhere good. After being overwhelmed with room offers as we got off of the ferry by some of the locals we decided to try our luck at the nearby hotels – which wasn't very lucky at all. Despite having the appearances of being open (doors open, lights on etc.) most (at least 5) were very much closed. At this point we were getting a little frustrated and wondering if we should head back to where the first people approached us. It was at that moment that we were approached by a little old Greek woman named ‘Nina’. She didn't speak much English but enough that we learned her name and that she had a room nearby. She took us up several flights of stairs (not fun with all our bags) to her room, which really was just a room separated off from the rest of her house by a nice sheet pegged along a rope and to make it worse – no wifi. We then went through the agonizing processes of telling her in English – which she didn’t speak, that we didn’t want her room which was awkward and on a side note turns out she is a fairly prolific personality downtown as we have uncomfortably bumped into her six times in the street since we said no, each time she say’s something in Greek about WIFI.

Anyway, by now we were really getting a bit stressed. It looked like it was going to be the tent again but this time in some dodgy back alley with the stray cats (and yes there are a lot of them). Our day was saved by a young Polish guy who picked us up off the side of the street. He and his wife (who live in Santorini) were visiting Milos and had found a place with nice rooms in our price range. It was actually a funny chain of events as even though we had located the place and moved our stuff into one of the rooms (which was self-contained and nicely furnished) our polish friends couldn't contact the owner to let them know that someone else, who they had never met, who doesn't speak a word of Greek was not only coming to stay for a couple of nights but had already moved in.  We spent the rest of the day exploring around the walk-able areas from Adamas, where we were staying.

Beach just out of Adamas

A view of Adamas

Yesterday we spent the first part of the morning getting organized with ferry tickets for our next leg and most importantly renting a car. Once we had the car we were away laughing and got a chance to explore some of the most amazing parts of the Island. Since it was relatively early in the day we first check out some of the archeological sites around Palaka. Which includes an Ancient Theater, the area where Venus of Milos was found (we saw her at the lourve in Paris) and some ancient Catacombs. The catacombs are understood to be some of the earliest in the world, but unfortunately due to us visiting in the off season we weren’t able to get in to see them.

From there we drove around exploring a little more on our way to Sarakiniko – which is probably the number one beach we have visited on our tour.  These volcanic rocks have been shaped by wind and waves which many suggest looks like the landscape on the moon. It was really beautiful and we had the place entirely to ourselves (in the early afternoon at least). We had fun swimming around the clear blue water and jumping off the rocks. Even though its heading into winter here the weather is still amazing and we had a full day of uninterrupted sunshine to enjoy.

Looking down on Sarakiniko 

Clear water and moon rocks

Floating in a cave

Because no one was there and he could

In the last afternoon as it started cooling down we went for a bit more of an explore around the southern part of the Island. We even found some geothermal pools along one of the main beaches, which Sam dutifully tried. The thermals were warm and too hot to stand on but not warm enough to heat all the cooler water around them, so I didn’t bother to join him.

The Port at Pollonia

For dinner we joined Mike and Dorothy our new polish friends at a local seafood restaurant. The food was fantastic and because they both spoke Greek they were able to order more traditional dishes. We had a nice array of vegetables, fish, calamari, sardines and different dressings and sauces. It was good fun and interesting to hear from them about what life in Poland and Santorini is like. We look forward to hopefully catching them when they come to New Zealand in February.

This morning the weather was a bit too windy for sunbathing so we took the car and drove to a few more of the areas that we hadn’t seen. Sam got a bit ruffled driving through some of the hillside villages as the roads are very narrow and the Greeks are notoriously alarming drivers to be around. To quote the Lady at the rental car company – “There are not very strict road rules here in Greece”.

The view at Firiplaka

A pretty flower I found

This afternoon we will catch the ferry onto Paros, slowly island hopping our way back towards Athens.